


Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)

by Poochee



Category: Formula 1 RPF, Rush (2013)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe, Baby!Niki, Implied/Referenced Blow Jobs, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Kissing, M/M, Prompt Fill, Teen!James, Young Love, baby!James, look i made a happy ending, repressed feelings, teen!Niki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2018-01-09 16:27:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1148187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poochee/pseuds/Poochee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Niki first met James Hunt in primary school, at a boarding school in Belmont, around the age of ten.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: What about an AU where James and Niki grew up as childhood friends for whatever reason and when they're teens they have a brief relationship sort of thing. But then one of them moves away. They meet again during that first F3 race.
> 
> this prompt took me like two weeks to write, I hope you enjoy it!

Niki first met James Hunt in primary school, at a boarding school in Belmont, around the age of ten.

He likes to think of it as a funny story, even to this day, when he wakes up to the smell of James’ cooking from the kitchen in the early mornings before a race. They had been little punks back then, especially James, who may or may not have smoked his first cigarette around the tender age of eleven. Niki liked to avoid conflict back then, but it always found him, usually in the form of a blond Brit.

He was ten years old when he moved from Vienna to London with his parents. The move was to make sure his father’s company grew, so it could be as successful as possible. It was definitely a change, going from country to county, trying to adapt despite feeling like an alien on a new planet.

That first day, after classes are over, he takes his novel and goes to find a quiet spot to read. He has no real interest in making friends, as he believes he won’t be here too long, and therefore should busy himself in schoolwork so he doesn’t fall behind.

It worked for a few hours. It’s pouring outside, and the sill he’s perched himself on at the meeting of two corridors is the ideal reading spot. The lighting is perfect, and the sound of rain pattering against the pane is relaxing…everything’s so perfect, something has to go wrong.

And it does.

A boy, around then same age but most likely a year higher, comes around the corner, laughing and talking with two of his friends. Niki spares them a glance before sighing and continuing his reading, or at least tries to.

The blond and his idiotic friends decide to hang out at the other window, mere feet from Niki’s former peaceful atmosphere. They’re joking about something Niki has no clue of, laughing loudly and almost obnoxiously, and it’s taking his focus away from Herman Melville’s tale of Moby Dick.

He was never a passive child when annoyed. “Hey,” he calls out, leaning out of the sill a little so he could see the little group. There’s no answer, so he raises his voice a little, “Hey!”

The laughter dies down as the tallest turns to look at Niki, eyebrows raised under a mop of unruly golden hair. Their blue eyes meet and Niki clears his throat, “Could you keep it down? I’m trying to read.”

For a few moments, everything’s quiet, and the blond stares at him before he chuckles, “Piss off,” and turns back to his friends.

Niki can feel his blood begin to boil at the blatant behaviour, his grip on his book tightening until the tips of his fingers turn white. This boy had little to no respect from Niki as of now, and the longer Niki was aware that they were talking about him, the more enraged he became.

“I’d appreciate it if you talked about me in a quieter voice, I do have ears.” He decides to take the approach his mother did with his father before they had a spat: passive-aggressive.

That brings the blond’s attention back to him, and Niki looks up from his book to glare at the other boy, who’s staring openly.

“You’re a little prick,” the boy states, and Niki scoffs.

“I’m not the one talking about someone right in front of them, _Arschloch_.” A name his father used to those who he deemed rude and stupid, like this boy.

The blond looks a little surprised before he makes his way over, the tie on his uniform undone, “German?” He asks, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest, “I’m guessing that’s not a nice, word, either.”

“You are correct.”

“Hmm.”

He plucks the book from his hands swiftly, and Niki’s grasping at the air with a frown as the boy’s friends laugh at the sight.

“Doing a little reading, rat?” He asks rhetorically, flipping through the book with a bored look, and Niki’s fuming at being called a _rat_.

Instead of lashing out violently, he reaches out with an open palm, quietly seething at the taller boy, “Give it back,” he demands in an even tone, frowning deeply.

A blond brow cocks in surprise, his friends whispering and giggling behind him. “Well, why don’t you come get it, _rat_?” He retorts, and curls his top lip, mocking Niki’s overbite and making little sniveling sounds.

His friends are howling with laughter when Niki rises from his spot calmly, the other boy wearing a look of curiosity before it’s gone as Niki punches him square in the nose.

The book’s dropped as his bully recoils in shock, his friends suddenly silent as they all stare at Niki with wide eyes. Obviously no one’s ever stood up to this boy before.

Once the blond realizes that the blood dripping from his nose is staining his uniform, he’s sitting on top of Niki while his friends holler and cheer, and Niki tastes blood on his tongue as he blocks another punch.

By the time a teacher comes by to separate them, they’re bloody and bruised, and she’s yelling at them both to go down to the dean’s office for punishment.

\--

“Can’t believe you got us into a deaning…” the blond mutters from behind his tissue, head tilted back as he tries to stop his nose from bleeding.

Niki’s arms are crossed over his chest with a frown on his face, a dark bruise forming under his left eye, and he’s already a little sore from the punches. His first day at the new school, and he’s already at the dean’s office.

He wonders what his father will say.

There’s movement next to him; his nose has stopped bleeding, as he tossing the tissues into a nearby bin, his face void of any blood. He looks at Niki, sizes him up, and simply says, “Nice hit, by the way.”

Niki blinks in surprise and slowly turns to look at the blond, a weary look on his face.

“James Hunt,” the blond introduces himself, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

Niki stares at James for a moment longer, wondering if this was some kind of trick or lie.

“Niki Lauda,” he finally mutters after a moment, and James looks back at him.

They stare at one another for a moment longer, sizing the other up, until James cracks a little smile that Niki returns.

\--  
  
James doesn't leave him alone after that. It's almost like he saw it as an invitation to be friends.   
  
Niki had been a little confused for the most part, especially the first time when James drops his notebook and lunch onto the table next to him in the cafeteria, chatting on and on about something as if Niki knew what he was talking about.   
  
He had been confused up until he asked.  
  
"Are we friends or something?"  
  
James hadn’t answered after long moment, and when he did, he muttered, "Or something." Before continuing to eat.  
  
Niki had accepted that, and preferred it.   
  
Even as they grew older, twelve and thirteen, they got even closer. Perhaps too close. They shared one another’s successes and failures, offering one-armed hugs when the moment seemed right. They still fought, of course, but they were best friends in everyone else’s eyes except their own.

Niki wondered why, up until he turned thirteen and he realized they were in love.

They didn’t know why or how it started, not that they talked about it. James is rude, pushy, ignorant, and just a downright asshole. He’s Niki’s closest friend and biggest enemy. Niki is blunt, arrogant, harsh, and unlikeable.

But they share passion. They have the drive to do whatever they want, and they’re each other’s motivation. They made each other better, and during that process, made a deeper connection over the years that passed.

They never acted on it, this ‘love’. Never could. With an outsider’s perspective, they’d see the prolonged looks and secret smiles whenever they were together, the inside jokes that left them in tears late at night, and the fights that shook the world. It was a gorgeous thing to watch.

Until they tried to lay their affections elsewhere.

James got his first girlfriend at fourteen, and Niki didn’t mind. It wasn’t in his nature to be insanely jealous or possessive, although that didn’t mean it irked him slightly whenever he saw James being intimate with some girl. James wouldn’t spend too much time with him whenever he had a girlfriend, and that pissed him off, so they had one too many fights about it.

They acted like jealous lovers whenever the other had a girlfriend, and people noticed. They were teased as being ‘boyfriends’ by their circle of friends, and they usually brushed it off with a little blush.

Niki tried to bury his feelings, to mask them, but James and his stupid grin kept him from ever doing so. As the years passed, and the older they got, things got weird and confusing. Where it had been easy with joking and shared looks when they were young, gushing about cars and their mutual fascination, their relationship was now filled with far too much touching, joking or not, and sharing a bed with James was harder to do when he wanted to feel nothing but the other boy’s skin against his own.

Once, when they were fifteen, he had James’ arm wrapped around his waist in the morning after a little sleepover, and he didn’t bother to do anything about it. They had to share a bed, because James refused to make him sleep on the floor, and Niki always felt ashamed. He had laid there with James’ breath puffing against the back of his neck, snoring lightly into his ear, and Niki couldn’t remember ever being so warm. Even if it was pathetic, he didn’t care.

He couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day.

**

The summer James turns seventeen, one of his older friends throws a party for him at her house, and there they get drunk for the first time, together.

Niki can’t imagine them getting any closer than they are now. They know everything about each other, down to the nitty gritty, and still James flirts with him. Niki’s passed it off as James being himself, a natural flirt, but even he can’t shrug off the way James calls him affectionate names and has to be touching him in some way whenever they’re together. Niki usually calls him an ‘asshole’ and James smiles like he won his heart.

He had caught James masturbating once, and he had been so terribly aroused by the sight. Later that day, after Niki apologized for not knocking, James merely swung an arm around his shoulders and whispered into his ear, “You should have joined me,” before laughing and jostling him in the side playfully.

Niki’s never been given so many mixed signals in his life.

Now, at the party, they’ve been glancing at one other throughout the night, not approaching each other just yet, giving themselves time to mingle with everyone else. Niki’s taken the time away from James to get tipsy, to laugh with the small group he had joined in conversation with, while James focused on talking with friends and getting as many girls to dance with him as humanly possible for the size of the party.

Now four or five beers into the night, James has his arms wrapped around two girls on either side of him, flirting shamelessly and having the time of his life, and Niki’s rambling on about something with one of his friends who’s nearly passed out, jostling him awake now and then with a soft laugh. They, like nearly everyone there, are nursing another beer in their hands.

Everyone’s being loud, laughing with music oozing from the stereo, and the place smells of alcohol and sweat. It’s the littlest bit stifling, but everyone’s have too good of a time to leave for a bit of air.

Until Erika arrives.

James had dated her for a while last year, about two months, and she had fallen hard for the insufferable Brit. Niki had been weary of her from the very start, when the couple had met at a concert, and she had gone far too easily with James back home. She was easy, and probably a little mental, because right after James broke it off for wanting to see other girls (the dog), she had begun to stalk him and lash out whenever they met up.

Niki, always the better friend, had spotted her at the entrance first. She was looking around angrily, and he knew she was looking for a reason to fight. No one was allowed to ruin James’ birthday but Niki.

He had to find James before she did.

And he did, in the kitchen, laughing with a different girl hanging from his arm.

“James,” the Austrian slurs as he grabs his best friend’s arm.

“Niki!” James announces with a grin, and he wraps his arm around Niki’s shoulders, pulling him unbearably close. Niki can smell the alcohol on his breath, and knew he probably didn’t smell any better. “Guys, this is Niki, he’s my b--”

“Erika’s here,” he interrupts, and James stares down at the brunet for a moment, lost until his eyes widen and he’s looking around. The last time he had seen Erika, she’d nearly broken his little finger.

“Come on, let’s go out back for a bit, until she lea--”

“ _James Hunt!_ ”

They’re bolting right out of the house faster than a cat leaps out of a bath.

Stampeding down the stairs like elephants and tossing their beers aside, James is _laughing_ as he pushes the door open, and Niki barely closes it behind them with a bang. They push people aside who are in the way, ignoring the shrill screaming coming from the house, and when Niki trips, James is still laughing as he helps him up and holds his hand tight as they run down the street together.

\--

The find refuge in an alleyway about six blocks from the house, panting and nearly doubled over. Niki huffs and leans back against the brick wall as James spits and straightens.

James still has a grip on his hand.

Feeling his cheeks colour, he pulls on his hand, hoping James would realize. He does, and he gave the Austrian’s hand a small squeeze before letting go quietly. Niki felt his heart leap in his chest, as any touch by James did.

“You’re a prick,” Niki whispers, and James laughs as he leans against the wall across from his best friend.

“A prick that didn’t have to deal with a psycho bitch,” James states almost proudly, brushing his long hair behind his ear before reaching into his pocket, searching, “Got a light, Niki-love?” He asks once there’s a cigarette between his fingers.

Niki’s too used to the nicknames slash pet names by now, he’s accepted them in stride (and secretly likes them). He reaches into his back pocket and pulls a little blue lighter out, tossing it over to James, who mumbles his thanks around the filter. James is always losing his lighters, so Niki carries one, even though he doesn’t smoke often.

He knows it speaks volumes about his feelings towards James, but he doesn’t care.

James stares at him while he takes a drag, the red amber from the cigarette serving as the only light source now. The silence consumes them for a moment, and Niki shifts his weight between his feet, and their breath is back to normal. Erika wouldn’t chase them out here, he knew that much, and James is _really_ staring at him…

“Come here.” He murmurs into the cool air.

Niki stares at him from across the two feet of space, can see how the blond’s eyes shine in the moonlight, “Why?”

“Just come here.”

He takes two steps and is in front of the Brit, staring up at him wearily and curiously. They had been the same height up until this summer, when James had a growth spurt during the two months he had left the country for a trip.

He came back golden and tall, and Niki had been in awe. Still is.

James offers him the cigarette, and he stares at it with his brows furrowed, “No, thanks.”

“Sure?”

“Yes.”

James takes a deep drag, drops the cigarette into a puddle, and cradles Niki’s face with his hands as he guides their lips together for the first time.

Niki’s frozen.

He can smell and taste the smoke on his tongue now, and he nearly coughs. James’ lips are chapped and warm, pressing expertly against his own, and Niki physically cannot respond. He’s got to be in shock.

“I know this is stupid,” James whispers against his lips after a moment, and Niki watches his eyes move beneath his eyelids, “But I…--I’m sorry, it’s the drinks…”

They’ve waited for this for so long, and James is apologizing for it. Niki feels sick. “I’m going to punch you,” he whispers shakily, and James opens his eyes to stare back into the misty ones boring into his own.

A thumb runs over his cheekbone slowly, and they stand there for a moment, staring at one another, before James speaks again, like this would explain everything, “Since I was fourteen.”

Niki gets it, and he feels his heart stop. Fourteen years old, three years, like Niki, waiting and wanting. He flicks his eyes back and forth between James’, searching for the answer in those blue eyes, but only asks “How much…?”

“Too much.”

His breath catches in his throat, because this is everything he wants, and he’s finally having it. He has nothing else to say, so he pulls James into another kiss, fingers tangled in the blond’s shirt as he feels tears beginning to roll down his cheeks.

James wipes them away with his thumbs, and it’s so sickeningly sweet that Niki wants to hit him out of frustration.

“Me too,” Niki finally whispers when they part, and James smiles the brightest between them. Niki’s love is the best gift he’s ever received.

\--

They don’t hold hands in the hallway when they return to school. They don’t kiss one another goodbye in the halls before class, nor hello afterwards. They don’t pour out their love like most couples do.

It’s all very quiet, when people are paying attention. But when they aren’t, it’s very loud, like it always has been.

James has made a nasty habit of introducing Niki to new things when they’re alone. Things so new that Niki loses his English tongue and is resorted to hissing German between his teeth, especially when James flicks his tongue over the tip of his cock late one night.

James is supposed to be tutoring him at the moment, but he can’t seem to keep it in his pants.

“James,” Niki gasps when he feels the Brit’s hand wrap around his flushed cock, biting his bottom lip at the dull burn of every drag that hand makes. They’ve been intimate and sexual many times already, sneaking around when the time’s right, and it’s so awfully dirty that they both love it.

It’s their secret, all theirs. They’re so selfish with one another and they know it.

“Yes, darling?” The blond purrs, and Niki grunts at the name before he tosses his head back with a poorly muffled moan. Teeth shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near his inner thighs, but James has proved time and time again that he loves to break the rules.

He’s been a rebel for as long as Niki can remember.

“Nothing,” Niki whimpers as a skilled tongue circles the head of his cock.

He fails the test.

\--

Halfway through James’ last year in school, Niki decides that he wants to tell his parents about them. This has been his longest relationship, and he likes to think that James will stick around after he graduates, and wait for him, so they could run off and do something together. They’ve planned to work and take a vacation before figuring out anything else.

When he leaves for Christmas, he finds the perfect time to tell them.

Except, it’s not.

An uneasy conversation about gays with his father makes Niki think twice about ever saying anything. By the end of it, he’s fighting back tears, because he knows his father will never approve or accept them. He’d probably disown Niki before anything else. Nothing can make this old miserable bastard happy, and Niki will never bring his father that pride he wants from his son.

He visits James later that day, seeking comfort. He tells him everything his father said, and James gets all riled up, saying he’d go right over to Niki’s house and set his father straight. It’s all big talk, though, and they both know it. Nothing will change his father’s mind, and Niki’s accepted that.

Around midnight, they steal sips from James’ father’s whiskey cabinet, and they go for a drive out to the country. Driving always made them feel better, no matter what it was that upset them.

They keep the windows rolled all the way down, and don’t play any music. James shifts the gears of his Mini and the engine roars as snow kicks up behind them, and Niki closes his eyes as he lets his hair become ruffled by the icy wind. It’s hypnotizing, driving so late at night, focusing on the speed of the car and nothing else.

James puts his hand on Niki’s thigh and squeezes, and he opens his eyes to see that they’ve stopped. The time says it’s been almost an hour.

“Your turn,” James whispers, and they willingly change spots. James never lets him drive his car, ever. He always insists on driving, and it’s always an argument between them, because Niki can’t buy a car until he’s earned the right to have one and they both love to drive.

But sometimes, James does this, and Niki’s grateful to have him.

He drives for a long time, enjoying the crunch of gravel under the tires during the dry spots and the earthy smell of dust and snow when it gets in the car. Driving’s always been an escape for him, a way to stay focused, and it’s almost better than sex.

Almost. James proves to him later in the backseat that sex is definitely better than driving.

“I love you,” James whispers against his skin when they’re finished, naked and sweaty, panting softly into the cool air. They’ve rolled up the windows except for one, which is open an inch, to keep them from suffocating.

Niki looks down to where James’ lips are pressed to his chest, staring at him, until James looks up from the lack of response.

It’s the first time either of them have said it, even though they’ve been feeling it for a lot longer.

“I love you, too,” Niki murmurs, and James smiles warmly before he’s back to kissing Niki’s body.

They don’t need his father’s approval, they only need each other’s.

\--

On the summer of James’ eighteenth birthday, Niki’s forced to move back to Vienna, and he learns the hard way that all good things come to an end.

He tells James one night, when they’re alone in his house together, and the Brit just laughs, loudly, until he sees the look on Niki’s face. He quiets and looks uncertain.

“You’re not serious…are you…?”

“I’m sorry, James…I found out this morning.” He can’t look him in the eye, until James makes him.

There are tears in his eyes, and Niki feels like shit for ever telling.

He apologizes through the hard, bruising kisses he’s given. He begins to cry as James holds him tight, because he’s happy here, he finally has James, and now he has to leave. He hasn’t even finished his last year of school yet, and he has to go through it alone in Austria, without James there to congratulate him afterwards or be his usual dickhead self.

It hurts. It hurts more than anything he can remember, and the last time they have sex, it’s slow and drawn out, and Niki cries again as he clings to the Brit. James tells him to stop being such a baby, but he nearly bawls when Niki finally drifts to sleep in his arms.

The day he’s packed and ready, James promises to try and visit, once he’s saved up enough money. He kisses Niki for the last time in his old bedroom, where they’ve built so many memories, and Niki stops himself from crying. James cries freely, and Niki kisses the salty tears away.

“I love you,” James whispers the promise against his lips.

Niki swallows around the lump in his throat, and promises back, “I love you, too.”

He pulls away and pulls something from his pocket, “Hold out your hand.”

“If this is some kind of promise ring, Niki…” James tries to joke, but Niki gives him a look despite the tears in his eyes.

He places a zippo lighter in the Brit’s palm, and James stares down at it.

“Don’t go losing that one, now, asshole,” Niki whispers, staring down at it as well, “I won’t be here to lend you a light anymore…”

Niki breaks both their hearts, and when he’s driving away in the back seat of his parent’s car, he can’t see James through the tears in his eyes.

**

Five years pass.

It’s a long five years. Niki’s father doesn’t talk to him anymore, because he sat him down one day and told him that he wants to race, and needs money for it. He wants to professionally race, win every Grand Prix, and be successful. His father doesn’t support him, never will, and his mother is understanding but she can’t support him in any way aside from hugs and encouraging words.

It doesn’t matter. He does it himself; goes to the bank and gets loans. Pretty soon, he gets his own car, and for the first time since his move back, he’s in the UK.

He keeps James out of his mind as much as he can. The blond’s probably moved on by now; he hadn’t visited Niki, and Niki’s fine with that. He doesn’t mind. In fact, he prefers it. There’s no distractions.

Until there is, one day, during the first race of his F3 career.

**

It’s a fine morning, James thinks, as he looks outside his window.

“It’s a fucking perfect morning for racing!” He announces into the bedroom, and thin arms wrap around his waist from behind slowly.

“It is, but keep your voice down,” Gemma whispers softly, and James turns around to pick her up, laughing as he takes them back to bed. They’re both naked, wonderfully so, and James places himself above her.

“Now, Gemma,” he says, looking down at the pretty nurse he had picked up yesterday, “The most important part of the day is breakfast, you know…”

She rolls her eyes up at him, a playful smile on her lips, “Yes, I’m quite aware.”

“Then let’s eat,” he smirks, and spreads her legs open obscenely while she giggles.

\--

Even at the Crystal Palace, it’s perfect out. He has his arm wrapped around Gemma as they walk towards his station, grinning and whispering into her blonde curls as they go. He had offered to introduce her to his crew, and she had whole-heartedly agreed.

Women and partying have kept him busy these past few years. After Niki left, he had been a little lost. He hadn’t realized how much his plans for his life involved Niki, until he had moved away. The first thing he had done was refuse the chance of becoming a doctor. He didn’t want that, he preferred _this_ , racing and being alive.

He’s become some sort of adrenaline junkie ever since Niki left.

Hesketh is the first one to make a jab at him, of course, about his Breakfast of Champions, and the crew greets James once he and Gemma arrive. James doesn’t get to introduce her to the team, as a head of brown curls passing by the corner of his vision catches his attention.

A new driver.

“Who’s that?” He asks Hesketh, and they both look over to where the short brunet is heading over to his car.

“Who, him?” Hesketh asks, and James rolls his eyes.

“Obviously.”

“Oh, him, that’s Niki Lauda. Bought his way in, real sneaky like, ya know? Don’t worry about him, James, you’re--”

Niki Lauda.

Niki who-got-away Lauda.

“Excuse me,” he says, pushing Hesketh out of the way as he rushes away, following the way Niki had gone.

Surely it wasn’t Niki. Niki was back in Austria, not the UK, not _racing_.

Then again, why wouldn’t he?

But there he is, in his overalls, rat teeth and all, when James catches up to him. His car has ‘Niki Lauda’ printed on the side to prove it. He’s pulling his mask on and almost in his car, getting ready for the race like James should be, but he isn’t. He can’t, not when Niki’s here.

“Niki!” He calls suddenly, feeling his throat close up when the Austrian looks over.

“What?” He snaps, irritable, and James can’t hold back a grin. Still the same old Niki, snapping at him.

He walks over, and he can see the other man glaring as he pulls up his mask the closer he gets, and James very nearly picks him up right off the ground.

Once they’re standing in front of one another, James doesn’t know what to say. Niki doesn’t recognize him, although his glare does soften after a moment.

He doesn’t know what to _say_. Five fucking years and he clams up.

“You got something to say, asshole? Or are you going to stand there and admire the next World Champion for the rest of your life?” His accent is so much thicker now, and James loves it.

“You’re not going to be World Champion,” James retorts without thinking, and curses himself. Niki looks unamused. It was time to take a different approach.

“I’m sorry I didn’t visit like I said I would.” There. An apology seemed right, even though he hated giving them.

Niki looks even more confused, “What? I’ve never…” And just like that, it clicks.

Those blue eyes widen first, and he drops his helmet back into the car. Everything rushes back, the memories of a tall golden boy breaking his heart, kissing him senseless whenever he got the chance, pissing him off until they were throwing punches. He remembers this man loving him when they were younger, the struggles they went through and overcame, and how everything had ended far too quickly for them.

He takes his one leg out from his car, and breaks eye contact to look over the other driver.

“James…?” He whispers, their eyes meeting again, and James smiles wide.

“You never were the smarter one out of--”

He’s slapped right across the face before he’s dragged away, and although his cheek stings something awful, Niki’s hand is in his own and it’s warm and it’s everything he’s been missing in his life. He supposes he deserves the slap, for not visiting, and showing up out of the blue.

“You asshole,” the brunet mutters as they disappear between trailers for some sort of privacy, and there, he slaps James across the other cheek before pulling him into a rough kiss.

And just like that, James falls in love all over again.

**


End file.
